Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Scarlet Street 1945

Having a week off from work for Thanksgiving has allowed me to catch up on some oldies! The most recent- Scarlet Street with Edward G. Robinson and Joan Bennett.

Edward plays Chris who has recently been honored for his 25 years of service as a cashier. He gets a gold watch, some slaps on the back, and he heads home to his wife.

On the way home he witnesses a guy knocking around a lady on the street. He breaks them up and then runs for help as the damsel in distress yells at him not to.

Ouch! She might need a cold steak for that shiner but at least her outfit is protected from the rain!

When the fuzz comes to help out the lady(named Kitty) she plays if off and the man gets away. Chris takes her out for a drink instead and he quickly starts to fancy Kitty. In conversation Kitty comes to think Chris is loaded which is far from the truth. The next day we learn that Kitty and her accused are actually a couple. They hatch a plan to scam Chris by having Kitty pretend she is a struggling actress.

Meanwhile we learn Chris lives with a witch of a wife who nags him and makes him cook and clean! Chris's escape? Painting. His wife and even his boss think his work is crap but Chris doesn't care.

What is with the amazing floral wallpaper in every movie?

I want! I want!

When the wife wants his artwork out of the house he rents a place to put it and Kitty goes with it. Little does Chris know, but Kitty's boyfriend is living there too. Chris is in love but Kitty is having a hard time acting like she likes him. The charade keeps up for a while until Chris can no longer pay Kitty's expenses.

I'll just pretend this old guy is William Holden instead...

Kitty's boyfriend, who is still slapping her around BTW, decides to try and sell Chris's paintings for some cash. To his suprise, the art gets sold and when some rich art dealers come looking for the artist to these amazing paintings Kitty takes the credit!

Much to everyone's suprise the art is selling like hot cakes. Chris finds out and so does his wife, so he also has to play off Kitty as the artist to keep his marraige together. Money is still tight and Chris starts stealing from work. Little does he know that all his love for Kitty is an act. She is getting tired of pretending.

When Chris discovers his marraige is not going to work out he goes to Kitty to ask for her hand in marraige and she lets him have it. Chris is furious and goes after her with an ice pick!

What happens next you'll have to watch and see. What happens to Kitty and her boyfriend? Will Chris learn the who truth? What about his now famous work?

I think this portrait of Kitty looks more like Hedy Lamarr!

The artwork done for this film was by John Decker and the Museum of Modern Art in New York held an exhibit in 1946.